ONXMAPS Review

By Tim Titus

Coyote Hunting with GPS MapsThe coyote broke from behind me just yards to my right. Swinging around a burnt juniper at my one o’clock, he loped towards the Foxpro Fury electronic caller and, unbeknownst to him, towards my brother, Terry, positioned next to an uphill boulder. We were on this deer winter range in hopes of calling a mountain lion but that wouldn’t stop us from taking a coyote that was here to prey on the wintering deer herd. Terry’s shotgun rang out and then shot again as I watched the big coyote begin to stumble then pile up down the slope from which he had just come.

The next stand was one of the best looking cat stands I’ve ever called but

again, rather than the mountain lion we hoped for, it produced a mature female coyote. I dumped her with a Berger hollowpoint from my Savage Predator Hunter rifle.We bumped a coyote walking into the third stand. The fourth stand provided a young male who cooperated extensively as Terry’s AR had several failure-to-fires before Pup Screams from the Foxpro moved him into position for me to make another fatal shot. No mountain lion appeared but we dealt a blow to the coyote population giving the deer some peace of mind and giving us a memorable morning afield.The area we called borders a national wildlife refuge. I had considered calling this area in the past but never had the nerve because no fence delineates the refuge boundary. Concern over straying onto the refuge had held me back. The chance of accidentally getting onto the refuge by misreading the map was too great. That all changed at Christmas.
One of the most pleasant surprises from under the tree was a Garmin 60ST and software from Hunting GPS Map(huntinggpsmaps.com.) I am continually looking for things to take my coyote hunting to the next level. This software was high on my list.The Hunting GPS Maps can be purchased either as a mini-SD card to load into your Garmin GPS or as a download onto your computer. The mini-SD card can also be inserted into an SD adapter and loaded directly onto your computer. The user also has the option of using a USB cable to access data from the GPS.

Either of these options allows the software to be viewed on a larger screen as well as making it possible to print maps for those occasions where a hard copy is preferable. The layers of information make for uncluttered viewing on your PC or GPS screen. More information becomes available as the user zooms in on a given location. Although currently available only for Garmin GPS and PC use, versions with smart phone technology are coming soon.

General land ownership is color coded on the Hunt Regional and Hunt Standard versions. The Hunt Premium version has specific landowner information as well. The Hunt Premium for Oregon is the version on my GPS. Additional overlays show Game Management Unit boundaries, roads, trails and other useful information. The advantages of Hunting GPS Maps to the coyote caller are numerous.

Landownership is important to the coyote caller on several levels. In addition to keeping the caller from embarrassing and costly mistakes by wandering onto refuge or other public properties closed to hunting, it also ensures the hunter isn’t inadvertently on private property rather than public. Trespassing with a firearm is a serious charge everyone wants avoid. This software pinpoints your position on color-coded map overlays making it obvious if you move from public to private properties.

The Hunting GPS Mapssoftware can also be used to find pockets of huntable public land in areas of private ownership. We hunt one such place in the midst of a large private patrolled ranch that has yielded numerous coyotes. With this software in your GPS, land ownership is obvious giving peace of mind to the conscientious hunter. And, speaking of private property, not only is the screen color-coded but on the Premium version the actual ownership of the property is listed. There are again multiple uses for this information.

The identity of the landowner allows the hunter to make contact to secure permission to hunt a promising area. Then, once secured, it helps you avoid moving onto adjacent landowner’s properties. These advantages were especially helpful this winter as I focused on shot gunning
coyotes.The shotgun opened a lot of terrain to hunt much of which was on tracts of private land. The vast areas of BLM we normally hunt were traded for smaller pieces of private land. The ownership information on the Hunting GPS Maps was invaluable in making contacts which would have required hours at the County Courthouse to determine. Plus, I had the advantage of actuallyseeing the terrain and vegetation to determine whether the property was an area I wanted to hunt.

Combining ownership with topographic features also makes scouting areas more viable. This can be accomplished at home either by scanning your GPS or on your PC allowing use of the maps on the larger screen of your computer. Either method assists in planning hunts in areas you haven’t hunted previously. Furthermore, ownership info also assists the hunter by ensuring he doesn’t stray onto adjacent landowner’s properties.These features benefit the big game hunter equally. In coyote hunting where multiple stands cover miles of ground with varying ownership, they become essential.

Settling into my calling chair, I had a large clump of sage behind me breaking up my outline and a dry slew in front. My Mossy Oak Brush 3D camouflage blended perfectly with the dry brush and the slew grass. This area had it all. The pasture was being grazed for the first time in two years. (Cows plus water equals coyotes.) The abundant grass also held plenty of rabbits and rodents making it ideal hunting grounds for predators.

I had already bumped one big coyote on the way to the stand but somehow I knew there had to be more than one in this area. It was hardly a surprise when a coyote showed up in the first two minutes of calling. My first round hit hide, the second and third showed contact as well before the coyote got behind a screen of brush. At 18 minutes the second coyote appeared from the same direction. Two more rounds of Four Buck put it down also. This stand was just minutes from my house. Yet I had never called it before. My shotgun along with the Hunting GPS Maps software gave me what I needed to open this property—close range capability and definite land ownership.
Can you hunt and kill coyotes without this tool? Of course. But if you want to take your coyote hunting to the next level, look into Hunting GPS Maps software. You may find yourself knee deep in coyotes that would never have been huntable without this technology.